Publisher's Notebook

It’s another holiday weekend. That means another press release from the National Motorists Association warning drivers about where you are likely to get caught speeding. The NMA bills itself as a “motorists’ rights group.”

Back around the 4th of July, we had an item on their list of states where you’re most likely to get a speeding ticket.

Just in time for Labor Day, they have a slightly different list — places that are the “worst” for speed traps.

The group notes that a lot of families travel over the holidays, and they created the list “to help [them] avoid a depressing and expensive holiday traffic ticket experience.” Plus, the release continues, financially strapped local and state governments may be looking at speeders as a cash cow. Thanks to budget crunches, motorists may “have good reason to feel like they have dollar signs painted on their vehicles.”

As with the ticket list before it, you can decide whether you buy the NMA’s methodology. The list contains “the most user-reported speed traps” by state. The who, how and when of the reporting aren’t mentioned in the release.

Two cities are listed for each state. The first is the one containing the largest number of reported speed traps, regardless of size.

Virginia Beach takes the top honors for the commonwealth.

The second category is the most speed traps among cities with 100,000 or fewer residents. Fairfax is their choice in that category.

You can get specifics on 60,000 speed traps across America at www.speedtrap.org.

You can buy the NMA’s info or not. It’s up to you. But either way, if you travel this holiday weekend, as they used to say on “Hill Street Blues” back in the ’80s: “Let’s be careful out there.”

Here’s an item for the upcoming holiday weekend. It’s the 4th of July, and you’re traveling to visit family and friends. Or maybe you’re just trying to get away.

You run a little behind, so you need to make time. You need to push the speed limit just a little. If your foot has a little too much lead in it, where are you most likely to get a speeding ticket?

Florida, according to an outfit called the National Motorists Association. The association bills itself as a “motorists’ rights group” that helps drivers fight speeding and other traffic tickets. They just completed a survey on ticketing trends.

The Sunshine State is at the top of their most-likely list, followed by Georgia and Nevada in a tie for 2nd, Texas then Alabama.

Virginia is in a tie with Minnesota for 28th place.

Wait a minute, you say. How can the NMA determine the states “most likely” to issue tickets? They used Google. They analyzed ticket-related search queries such as “speeding ticket” and “traffic ticket” over time using Google’s Search Insights — a public tool that shows state-by-state search trends across the United States.

Whether you buy that methodology or not is up to you, but note that two jurisdictions adjoining Virginia make the top 10: North Carolina rates 8th and D.C. is at number 9.

You’ll have to drive a far piece to get where tickets are least likely under the NMA survey. Montana is at the bottom, followed Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Alaska. If you’re driving to those places for the weekend, you better load up the kids and car right now.